Goodbye local bank branch
SMU Banking Professor Scott MacDonald talks about banks having too many branches and moves to close some of them.
By David Ellis
CNNMoney.com staff writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Don't look now, but your local bank branch might be disappearing.
Faced with a severe economic environment and massive consolidation within the industry, banks are taking a hard look at their retail banking locations.
Severe loan losses in areas like credit cards and commercial real estate, have also put banks' capital levels under severe pressure, prompting some lenders to look for ways to cut expenses. . .
"There is no question there were some areas that were overbranched," said Scott MacDonald, a professor of banking at SMU's Cox School of Business. "If you go to somewhere like California, there was literally a branch on every corner."
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